Al Shabab - nurturing promising young players

The Al Shabab Club was established in 1974 with the merger of two Dubai clubs namely, Dubai Club and Al Arabi Club.

The two clubs agreed to merge as they were going through tough times. Al Arabi and Dubai were relegated to the second division in the league in the 1973-1974 season. Dubai Club were relegated following a decision taken by the Football Association after they withdrew from their match against Al Ahli. The FA decided to suspend them and relegated them to the second division. Al Arabi were automatically lost out as they finished at the bottom of the league table.

Abdullah Saqr, one of the members who established Dubai Club in 1970, said that some of the young football players in Fareej Al Marrar in Deira decided to establish their own club. Mohammed Abdullah Al Marri was the man behind the idea of establishing the Dubai Club along with Mattar Al Marri, Rashid Al Mazrouie, Abdullah Saqr, Mattar Ali Al Dhabbah, Darwish Al Marri, Obaid Hasan, Mohammed Khamis Al Marri, Saeed Ali, Dhahi Salmin, Ghanim Al Marri, Saeed Salboukh, Khalid bin Faris and Khalifa Ghanim.

The Dubai Club was housed in Fareej Al Marrar near Kuwaiti Hospital. The team trained and played matches in a small playground in Al Ghussais near the Al Ahli Club. The team's colours were red and white shirt with red shorts.

The first Dubai Club's board of directors was chaired by Ahmed Saif Balhasa, Butti bin Bishr, chairman of the Club's supreme committee, with members Khadim Suroor Al Massam, Mattar Al Marri, Rashid Saeed Al Marri, Humaid bin Zieban, Mohammed Abdullah Al Marri, Dr. Ahmed Saif, Mohammed Al Maydour, Mohammed Khamis Al Marri, Ahmed bin Darai, Darwish Issa Al Marri, Mattar Salim Sayah, and Abdullah Saqr for the culture committee.

Mahfouz Ibrahim and Mohammed Al Manzalawi, both from Egypt were the coaches who trained Dubai Club. They played in the Dubai league against Al Nasr, Al Ahli, Zamalik (now Al Wasl). They also played against clubs from Sharjah like Al Orouba, Al Khaleej, Al Omani. Abdullah Saqr said that the Dubai Club once defeated Zamalik 5-0, and after that match Al Ahli also crushed Zamalik 10-0.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Al Arabi Club was established in Hor Al Anz, Deira at the same time as the Dubai Club. The most famous players for Al Arabi at that time before the 'merger' were Yaqoot Juma, goalkeeper Salim Al Wali, brothers Ahmed and Hasan Fardan, Abdulah Mussa, Ali Hasan and Salim Juma. The colours for Al Arabi Club was green jersies and white shorts. They also played in the Dubai league before being relegated to the second division.

The relegation of the two teams to the second division in 1973-74 season, and the subsequent tough times they encountered necessitated the merger in order to become a more forceful unit and to win promotion to the first division.

During the merger the two teams agreed that they would play under the banner of Al Shabab Al Arabai. That was in 1974. The new team colours were going to be the former Al Arabi colours: green shirts and white shorts. The club continued to operate from their premises in Frij Al Murrar near the Kuwaiti Hospital.